DaaasYochid, obviously “??? ???” means something which an intellectually honest person knows he cannot answer. I presume that you do not phone your rav when you wake up in the morning and ask if you should do netilat yadayim.
Agreed. That’s actually the type of thing I meant in my original post, but I retracted because that’s not a “psak”.
It’s interesting that in the case brought in B’er Moshe, the shoel’s friend thought it wasn’t even a shaila! The Debriciner was warning people to be intellectually honest, and that anything which is not clear cut should be asked. Netilas yadayim is clear cut (now, whether or not the water needs to literally be within 4 amos is not as clear cut).